Wikipedia:Robert_Calef Robert Calef (baptized 2 November 1648 – 13 April 1719)[1] was a cloth merchant in colonial Boston. He was the author of More Wonders of the Invisible World, a book composed throughout the mid-1690s denouncing the recent Salem witch trials of 1692-3 and particularly examining the influential role played by Cotton Mather.
Robert Calef, son of Joseph Calef, was baptized in Stanstead, Suffolk, England on 2 November 1648. The Calef family of Stanstead was "one of substantial yeoman and clothiers."[2] The majority of what is known about the character of Robert Calef is what can be gleaned from his single book, and it contains almost no details about his own life.[3] His writing displays broad education and it is possible that following grammar school he attended one of England's clandestine dissenting academies[4] as evidenced by Cotton Mather's use of the title "Mr." ("Mr. R.C")[5] and Calef's pride in having no proficiency in Latin.[6] (In contrast to Oxford and Cambridge, the English language was generally preferred for instruction in dissenting academies, as Latin was viewed as having ties to Rome.)[7] According to the tradition of Calef's descendants, he matriculated from "one of the English colleges" and showed sympathy for Quakers and sought asylum in New England.[8]
Calef emigrated to New England sometime before 1688. His children born in Boston were baptized in Boston's South Church, pastored by Samuel Willard. Calef's name does not come up in the records of the witchcraft trials of 1692-3 and, according to his book, his interactions with the Mathers began in Boston in September of 1693, with most of the writing of the book and compilation of trial records complete by 1697. From 1702-04, Calef was an overseer of the poor. In 1707 he was chosen an assessor, and in 1710 a tithingman, which he declined.[9] He retired to Roxbury, where he was a selectman.[10] He died there on 13 April 1719.[1]
